Almost every season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) starts with questions regarding its quality and experts and media pondering whether the franchise-based tournament that had started over a decade ago in 2012 with lofty goals would finally be able to match the global standards.

The 10th edition of the country's only franchise-based T20 tournament was no different. It did, however, begin with a lot of improvements with the availability of the Decision Review System (DRS) for the entirety of the tournament for the first time being a major upgrade.

But so far, despite Fortune Barishal piling up the highest total of this season so far -- 187 for four -- against Khulna Tigers in the evening game yesterday, the latest season of the BPL has not been able to provide the thrill and excitement that fans usually seek from the shortest format of the game.

But is it always the low-quality surface or the unavailability of high-end equipment that hinders the tournament from matching the global standards?

Shouldn't the players be up to the task as well?

The second game of the tournament saw Chattogram Challengers ease past Sylhet Strikers' 177 for two with seven wickets and nine deliveries remaining. Except for this and the Barishal game yesterday, none of the other matches saw totals north of 150.

"I thought that this was a wicket that merited a total of 170-175. We just could not apply ourselves. I am not seeing any problem with the wicket," said Durdanto Dhaka skipper Mosaddek Hossain, who was not able to open his account despite playing six deliveries when his side were restricted to just 136 for eight in their six-wicket defeat against Chattogram Challengers yesterday.

Mosaddek was the only one to realise that it is, in fact, the players who would need to apply themselves, instead of just blaming the wicket for the low-quality cricket.

"I think the pitches so far played fine and you can't blame the surface for the lack of runs," opined former Sri Lankan middle order batter Russell Arnold, who is in the commentary panel of the BPL.

"Yes, the surfaces do have something both for pacers and spinners, and at times it is not easy for the batters to score freely. Especially, it's difficult for the batters to hit straight down the ground as there's some extra bounce in the surface and there's also a bit of turn for the spinners too. But at the same time, the batters also need to apply themselves in certain situations that demand them to adapt and adjust accordingly," Russell added.

One of the main reasons behind the low scores has been the lack of patience shown by the batters. When Ranpur Riders slumped to 4-31 in five overs against Barishal and Chattogram found themselves reeling at 3-32 in 4.2 overs against Khulna Tigers, it proved too difficult for both the teams to recover as they eventually lost their respective contests setting low totals.

With batters throwing their wickets away and being unable to read the surface and adjust accordingly, so far, the blame for the dip in the quality of cricket needs to be taken by the cricketers more than the wickets and conditions.